Collegium Helveticum
Switzerland
fellow
Tatiana Crivelli
2025-2026
Home institution
University of Zurich
Country of origin (home institution)
Switzerland
Discipline(s)
Cultural studies; Literature
Theme(s)
Cultural Studies
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Tatiana Crivelli is professor of Italian literature at the University of Zurich and was visiting professor in the USA and in Italy. Her work combines literature, gender and cultural studies, and digital approaches, with a special focus on women’s writing. She was appointed Cavaliere (2004) and Ufficiale (2017) of the Italian Republic, and she is among the twenty-six foreign members of the Accademia dell’Arcadia.
She collaborates with international research networks and journals, coordinates SNF-projects, and directs two OA journals (altrelettere and RISL). Her current digital project aims to renew attention to the work of the writer Alice Ceresa.
Her publications include text editions (such as Leopardi’s Dissertazioni, 1995, and Dialogo filosofico, 1996; Bongiovanni’s Risposte a nome di M. Laura, 2014; Ceresa’s Piccolo dizionario dell’inuguaglianza femminile, 2007/2020, transl. into French and German; Bambine, 2025), collective volumes (L’una e l’altra chiave, 2005; Selvagge e angeliche, 2007; A Companion to Vittoria Colonna, 2016; S/Confinare, 2022; Ceresa tradotta e traduttrice, 2025), monographs (Né Arturo, né Turpino, né la Tavola Rotonda, 2002; La donzelletta che nulla temea, 2014), and numerous articles.
Research Project
Family Matters
The project Family Matters aims to develop an interdisciplinary reflection on a topic at the center of ongoing public debate: the relation between family, gender equality, and social norms. By bringing feminist literary perspectives into dialogue with historical and legal approaches to family legislation, the project connects disciplines and national contexts, bridging Switzerland and Italy, and highlighting the value of cross-disciplinary and international exchange.
This project is a collaboration by Sabbatical-at-Home Fellow Tatiana Crivelli, professor of italian literature at the University of Zurich, and her Associate Fellow Elisabetta Fiocchi Malaspina, associate professor of legal history, contemporary legal history, and history of international law and comparative law at the University of Zurich. Sharing a strong interest in women’s presence and intellectual contribution to academia and society, their research sits at an intersection to which each brings a different disciplinary angle.
In Family Matters, they will bring two of their current projects into conversation. Tatiana is currently co-leading an SNF digital edition project on the Swiss writer Alice Ceresa (1923–2001), a feminist and experimental author whose work critically examines the notion of family and the social norms regulating relations between the sexes. Meanwhile, Elisabetta leads the student-oriented project “Schweizer Juristinnen und Frauenrechte in der Schweiz seit 1971,” which explores the history of gender equality in Switzerland through interviews with women lawyers and politicians.
Research Interests:
feminist literary studies; legal history; gender equality; family law; social norms; women's rights; interdisciplinary research; Italian literature; Swiss literature; comparative law; international law; history of law; digital humanities; women in academia; feminist theory; gender studies; cultural history.